Edinburg Vela is as ambitious a team as any Rio Grande Valley team has seen in a generation.
Their best test of the regular season could also decide a district title, as the Sabercats head to PSJA Stadium to take on the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North Raiders Thursday night.
(It could even be a preview of the 5A-DI Region IV championship game. But don’t ask the coaches about that.)
Vela (4-0, 1-0 in 15-5A-DI, ranked second in 5A-DI Padilla Poll) began varsity sports in 2014 and quickly became an athletic power in the RGV. Michael Salinas – now the coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville – built Sabercat football into a playoff team; John Campbell took over and kept the pace. Not only have they made the playoffs 8 years in a row, they’ve gotten to the second round 7 of those years and to the third round 5 times. They have been undefeated in the regular season 5 times in the last 7 years, including 4 times in the Campbell Era. Their playoff victory against Taft in the area round last year (27-24), combined with the move from 6A to 5A, has set the Sabercats’ 2022 expectations sky high, with experts led by Carl Padilla of the Padilla Poll suggesting a region championship – or even a berth in the state championship game – is possible for this team.
Campbell attributes the Cats’ success to a steady process. Campbell is now in his sixth year at Vela, with seniors who were introduced to his system as seventh graders. Tangible benefits include a defense that can respond to in-game situations more quickly. Intangible benefits include a focus on the day-to-day, even as great possibilities loom in the months ahead.
“We truly believe in getting better one day at a time,” said Campbell, his tone of voice conceding that this is the least interesting answer available. “I know that is a cliché right now, particularly when you hear all the Nick Sabanisms, but I think that’s really important. We’re excited about the potential of this football team, but at the same time there’s no sense dreaming about December, especially when we have an opponent the quality of PSJA North staring us in the face.”
The last Valley team to go to the state semifinals was Edinburg High in 1999. Their head coach was the late Robert Vela, who went on to become the principal and is the namesake of Vela High School. Vela High School is located at the former site of Edinburg High.
For the Sabercats, Bobby Garcia and Myles Lopez have shared time at quarterback; each has averaged more than 7 yards per pass attempt. Jamal Polley is averaging over 10 yards per rushing attempt. Campbell looks forward to polishing up the passing game, but with all Vela’s victories coming by at least 36 points, the Sabercats have focused on draining the clock late in games. Defensive end Jake Dufner leads the defense.
Campbell clearly does not expect this to be the case against the PSJA North Raiders.
PSJA North (4-0, 1-0 in 15-5A-DI, ranked 14th in 5A-DI Padilla Poll) is the Valley team best equipped to challenge the Sabercats. PSJA North enjoyed their own three-round playoff run last year, which ended – like so many seasons in the last three years – at the hands of the Westlake Chaparrals. Head Coach Marcus Kaufmann said “that butt-whipping we took last year in the playoffs from Westlake…we figured out we had to get a lot of work done before we were ready to be able to compete at that level. These kids did a lot of work this summer and the spring to try to get ready for the season.”
Kaufmann joined Orlando Garcia and Bruce Bush as coaches who’ve led the Raiders to the third round.
PSJA North started 13 sophomores against Westlake. The experience fueled their ambition in 2022, and the results are impressive. PSJA North was a run-heavy team in 2021, partly due to an injury to quarterback Alejandro Aparicio forcing wideout Julius Arrendondo to take over behind center.
With Aparicio back at quarterback, Kaufmann reports “we ended going to state in 7-on-7.” The results have translated well to 11-on-11 so far.
Aparicio has completed 36 of 52 passes for 590 yards and 7 touchdowns. He also has 259 yards rushing. Jason Montes has run the ball 77 times for 512 yards and 3 touchdowns this season, and freshman Ethan Guerra has 30 carries for 282 yards and 2 touchdowns; the running game has not suffered in favor of the passing game. And Arrendondo, back to playing receiver, has 7 catches for an astounding 172 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Kaufmann calls his offensive line the real strength of the team. Motivated by seeing Westlake up close (and trying to block the same), left tackle Dante Garcia (6’2, 275), left guard Adaen Sanchez (6’0, 245), center Joe Derek-Vecchio (6’2, 280), right guard Augustine Renteria (6’1, 260), and right tackle Jordan Brewster (6’4, 305), all took the off-season conditioning seriously.
“We can’t make you taller”, said Kaufmann, “but we can make you stronger and faster.”
“They’re probably the most talented team in the Rio Grande Valley,” said Campbell of the Raiders.
By the way, none of the PSJA North starters on offense are seniors
Marcus Kaufmann was the offensive coordinator at McAllen Memorial when his son Matthew quarterbacked the team to back-to-back third round playoff runs in 2010 and 2011. Matthew played football at West Point, and was recently stationed in Latvia, near Ukraine.
Matthew has completed his tour and returned to Killeen. He will be on the sideline for the Edinburg Vela/Pharr-San Juan-Alamo game Thursday.
Mark Kusenberger
September 22, 2022
Read more from Mark on his blog at https://mkusenberger.wixsite.com/website/blog